After the show ended, I had a final day in London, perhaps my last, who knows, before flying out to Athens on Saturday.
After a slow start, I had seen most of what I wanted to see, but today was the final wrap up. Westminister Abbey and the British Museum. I’m talk about the British Museum in a future post, but today is all about the Abbey.
The place amazed me the first time I came here, oh so many years ago. And now the amazement continues. It’s as though time has stood still for over a millennia since it’s completion on 1060 AD.
Like St. Paul’s, the staff at Westminister were more than happy to honor the passes I had bought 2 years earlier. Most of Westminister is open freely to the public, but I had bought 2 passes to the Galleries, including a guide brochure.
After my last full English breakfast at the Melia, and to be honest I was getting a bit weary of the salmon, I hopped on the tube headed toward Victoria Station. I had a tentative appointment at 10 and was running a bit late, so I grabbed one of the quintessential London double decker bus for the final leg.
Finding the entrance was a bit of a challenge as they have moved the general admission off to the side. With the adoption of booking times, some means of managing the queue had to be set up, and I’m guessing they didn’t want to do that on the front steps.
Gaining entrance, I made my way into the Abbey and the one thing I noticed is it was much brighter and cleaner that in the past. Obviously they have been spending a lot of effort removing the hundreds of years of dirt and grime from the inside of the church. It was beautiful.
A lot of images were collected in my meanderings. As St. Paul’s I desperately needed the UWA, but alas didn’t bring it. Doh….
To keep this post a little shorter, I’ve only included a small number of images, but you can see the full tranche at Westminister Abbey
Entering in the south side, you are guided toward the front of the church.
Reaching the front, you can then go through the alter into the main section of the church.
Once inside, this is the delight to behold.
Exiting the south side, you continue toward the rear of the church. Lot’s of dead people here….
Beautiful stained glass as the rear most part of the church.
I found this particularly interesting. Sad face….
The entrance to the Gallery is in this alcove, so I headed up the stairs. Nice views out the windows.
Entering into the gallery, this is the view that greets you.
There is not a lot more of interest in the gallery, so heading back down to the main floor.
This was the end of the tour. Mass was just beginning so I stayed for the celebration. It was amazing to see how oblivious the people entering the the church were to the ongoing mass. They would just lift the ropes and walk through the middle of the celebration. There was this one poor lady whose job it was to shoo the miscreants out of the way during the mass. I approached her after mass was over and told her she had the patience of a saint. She replied that this was nothing. When it’s crowded it’s a real challenge she told me.
Heading outsides, there were many more delights to behold.
This alcove was off of one of the main halls. It was devoid of any furniture or memorials, but had lovely stained glass. Have no idea what it’s used for.
Back out into the main walkway.
And out the exit.
That’s all for today. Posting is prolly going to be a bit helter skelter. As you may, or may not have, noticed I missed last week. We are in the planning stages of building a house, and there is a lot to do to get ready.
In any event, the next post will be the final one from London, the British Museum.
Until then,